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[ponom]

I suggest more engineering tools/objects rather than just mechanism and traction bench.

Mechanical timer with abjustable delay time is the first of those.

Some boolean mechanical switches? Logical and/or? Donno.

[Jeoshua]

All possible currently if you're mechanically inclined enough to be able to make a logic gate with the current switches in the game.  There are FAR more mechanical objects than mechanisms, you just need those mechanisms to build them.

Timers? Possible.  A pump, a reservoir, and a switch in that reservoir that only activates when it's full.  Then you can hook up the pressure plate to a flood gate that empties the reservoir, and to whatever mechanical device you want that timer to control.

And/Or booleans are also possible if you understand how these things work in real life, you should be able to make one with water, flood gates, and pressure plates.

Code: [Select]

AND Fluid gate

----
 XX
----

OR Fluid gate
---
 X
 X
---

---> Water flowing this way
  X   Is a flood gate.

Given that people have actually built fluid logic based computers in DF as it is... which can theoretically run simulations of themselves... making DF's mechanical system Turing-Complete...

I'd say we're alright as it is on mechanical tools for the sake of logic systems.

[Kogut]

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Computing

[NW_Kohaku]

I suggest more engineering tools/objects rather than just mechanism and traction bench.

Mechanical timer with abjustable delay time is the first of those.

Some boolean mechanical switches? Logical and/or? Donno.

While, as the others have said, it is possible to do all this with current mechanisms, there is also a massive and long-running thread specifically about this topic:

Behold, the Additional Mechanisms Thread.

It not only is a massive collection of potential new mechanisms, but it was a winner of the Eternal Suggestions Voting, and is going into the game, and is also on the Devpage.

Improved Mechanics

• Better traps
• Stone traps should require the stone be placed above the tile that is targeted
• Stones should be able to roll (perhaps if they are started from or land on a ramp tile)
• Weapon traps should be multi-tile and require a spring or other potential energy source -- automatic resetting should require some explicit establishment of a feasible mechanism
• Large pipe sections -- walk on them or crawl inside them, allow passage for fluids
• Moving fortress sections (lifts, crushing traps, etc.)
• Waterproof axles through some mechanism
• Rock grinders? Fans? We'll do some other machines around this time -- whichever feasible ones are the most entertaining for dwarves and treasure hunters

I definitely recommend a crawl through that Additional Mechanisms thread for funsies alone, it's filled with loads of neat ideas.

[ponom]

Yes those are good, but, I was thinking of timers up to 100 tics adjustable,
You mentioned those above 100 tics. This delay might be no good for some applications like preasure plate next to hatch - now it opens imediatelly or with 100 tics delay.

[Jeoshua]

You know... the idea of a timer isn't all that bad of a thing.  Timers are extremely fiddly devices, much on par with a resettable weapon trap in complexity.  The difference being, a timer made up of a few gears shouldn't be bigger than a dwarf.  It would basically be a spring and a gear (we'd need springs for it).

Right now they're possible, but requiring pools and flood gates and whatever that really could be a bit, if not miniaturized, somewhat "smallerized".  From a room into a tile or two.

Or possibly, a combination of some of the mechanical components already needed would work better, and be more generally applicable.  Like a combination hatch/pressure plate.  Or floodgate/pressure plate.

In fact, if you could put pressure plates on the same tile as other mechanics, it would greatly "smallerize" the existing mechanical designs we have.

[Silverionmox]

A timer with a pendulum does not require a spring. A rope would suffice. Even very, very smooth stone would work.

[NW_Kohaku]

Pendulums are classical measurements of time... but how do they actually interface with a mechanism?  Wouldn't they need some sort of gear or spring or pressure plate or something somewhere to have the pendulum's swing actually do something?

[Jeoshua]

Clocks in general would only require 2 kinds of parts, whether they be spring-based or pendulum-based:

Gears and Levers.


That is, something to be turning, and something to make sure that it only turns one way.  The rest is beyond my meager understanding of clocks, honestly.  But yeah, two basic kinds of parts.  In DF terms it would require a mechanism and maybe a bar of metal.

[ponom]

OK, them I suggest to have all mechanical links marked somehow lever - bridge, pressure plate- hatch etc).
Now it is rather complicated to follow all linked devices and or linking progress.

[ponom]

Next suggestion is to somehow improve hauling.

It is too slow and boring to wait untill all the stuff is picked up one by one.
What if modify this skill so the more skilled in carrying dwarf is, the more things he can carry at once.
For example dwarve can put everything into backpack, or use wheelbarrow.

It seems rather strange dwarve able to carry one thing only weight independent - either elephant or pack of strawberries. This is not efficient I believe.

[AbacusWizard]

Jeoshua--the image you have there is a striking train (the gear assembly for sounding the chimes), not a going train (the gear assembly for moving the hands).

The problem with clocks is that the use of pendulums for keeping time was only developed in the 17th century, well after Toady's cut-off date. Prior to that, time was generally kept by water flow (already quite possible in-game) or spring mechanisms (which would be a nice addition to a future version of the game). These work reasonably well in the short term but don't remain accurate for very long.

Note also that a pendulum or an oscillating spring is used as a time regulator, not as a power source. The power must come from elsewhere, usually either slowly descending weights (grandfather clocks, etc.) or a tightly wound coil spring (most wall clocks and watches). Presumably dwarven clocks could be powered by the infamous Dwarven Water Reactor. 

Probably the most advanced clock we know of from prior to 1400 is the Salisbury Cathedral Clock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salisbury_cathedral_clock
which appears to have been made sometime in the 14th century, though there's some uncertainty about that. Apparently it has a pendulum, though there is strong suspicion that this was added later.